Constant Friendship: Been There, Done That

A concerned citizen and loyal friend received another reply from TPTB (transportation planning) in the county when she questioned the validity of a study completed in 1987. But as you'll see, they have done something more recently. Only not in this century!

Thank you again for your comments regarding the development and traffic issues at Constant Friendship.The Constant Friendship development is grandfathered because lots were recorded and approved prior to the establishment of Adequate Public Facilities (APF) for roads. The development of these lots has been phased in over the years. As we mentioned before, a traffic study was done for the Constant Friendship Area, including the residential component, and road improvements identified in that study are currently in place. The developer of Constant Friendship has met the traffic requirements in accordance with the policy that was in place in 1987.

In 1998 a traffic study was done for the Constant Friendship townhouse development south of Singer Road and west of Tollgate Road. The study was required because these townhouses were not approved in the original Constant Friendship Plan. Road improvements were identified at that time and have been constructed. The intersection of Tollgate Road and Constant Friendship Blvd was not analyzed in this traffic study because under the APF guidelines only intersecting collectors or higher functional classification roads are studied based on definitions of roads in the Harford County Transportation Plan. Constant Friendship Blvd is not a functional classified roadway. However, Harford County’s Department of Public Works has modified the Constant Friendship Blvd traffic pattern in recent years as well as intersection capacity improvements at Tollgate Road and Constant Friendship Blvd.

Her response, and I heartily concur, "That's just silly." Why don't they just say they're not going to do anything instead of making excuses?

Here at TAA we wonder what qualifies as a "high functioning road." We're also questioning what improvements were made to that intersection -- was it the jersey barrier left on the bridge before the intersection that people crashed into and then one day just disappeared? Or is it the "sticks" in the road when you're making a right hand turn onto Rte. 24 from Tollgate that are constantly replaced because people keeping running them over?